Westerville, OHSome patients who have had a Zimmer hip replacementmust now undergo a second surgery to remove the device, known as the Durom cup. Although the Zimmer Durom cup was intended as a better alternative to existing hip replacements, lawsuits have been filed alleging that is not the case.
A lawsuit filed by plaintiff Karen Hoggarth in July 2010 alleges the Zimmer hip is defective and has a high failure rate. According to the lawsuit, the estimated failure rate of the Durom cup is between 20 percent and 30 percent, although the true failure rate will reportedly increase as more of the devices fail.
Hoggarth says she received her implant in 2008. Four months later, Zimmer issued a "temporary suspension" of sales of the device. Hoggarth alleges she must now undergo a "painful and invasive revision surgery" to replace the failed device.
"I used to lead a very fulfilling and active lifestyle, traveling abroad, exercising regularly, volunteering, and working in my garden," Hogarth says, as quoted on 6/20/10 on Bradenton.com. "Now, my life is so limited due to the pain that the defective Durom cup implant has caused me." Hoggarth noted that even walking upstairs gives her pain.
According to the lawsuit, Karen Hoggarth v. Zimmer Holdings, Inc. and Zimmer, Inc., Zimmer received complaints from physicians about the failings of its Durom cup but reportedly blamed the problem on surgeons. In 2008 Zimmer temporarily suspended sales of the cup to update labeling. No recall of the Durom cup has been announced.
Meanwhile, Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Zimmer Holdings asking the company to disclose information about how it handles complaints about its devices from medical consultants and how it tracks the long-term performance of those devices. According to the New York Times on 6/30/10, the senator became aware of disputes between Zimmer and two medical consultants after the Times published an earlier article on 6/20/10.
One of those disputes involved the Durom cup, which surgeons noted had a high failure rate. One of Zimmer's medical consultants, Dr. Lawrence Dorr, alerted orthopedic surgeons about the failure of the cup, but Zimmer blamed the problem on Dr. Dorr's technique. Other orthopedic surgeons reportedly also noted that the Durom cup began to fail in their patients.
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